Namibian land reform

Talking like Mugabe

But Namibia's Sam Nujoma is not as reckless as he sounds

IT ALL sounds worryingly familiar. Sam Nujoma, Namibia's grizzled old president, who has ruled since independence in 1990, last month berated “arrogant” commercial farmers for blocking land reform. He said, not unreasonably, that Namibians were angry that a few thousand white farmers still control 36m hectares (89m acres). This is 70% of the country's privately-owned land, and 44% of its total land mass.

He says that he wants to expropriate 192 farms, mostly owned by Germans and South Africans, and adds that unless the owners co-operate, Namibia will go the way of Zimbabwe. Last week, at the UN development summit in Johannesburg, Mr Nujoma emphasised his point by cheering Robert Mugabe, blaming Britain for Zimbabwe's woes and declaring, disingenuously, that Africa does not need western investment.

His words grabbed the headlines. But even though Mr Nujoma and Mr Mugabe are close allies, few expect Zimbabwean troubles in Namibia, or anyhow not just yet. Unlike Mr Mugabe, Mr Nujoma does not feel threatened by his feeble domestic opposition, so he does not need to use land reform as an excuse to crack heads. Diplomats in Windhoek argue that Mr Nujoma's frequent outbursts belie his government's moderate policies. He often rants against homosexuals, for example, but has done little to persecute them.

This week, Mr Nujoma's new prime minister, Theo-Ben Gurirab, said that the government would continue to acquire land for redistribution mainly from willing sellers. By law, it has first refusal on any farm for sale, and pays market prices. Although the process has so far led to the resettlement of only 100 farms, this is partly because of the difficulty and cost of teaching former cow-herders to manage enormous and sprawling ranchland effectively.

It will take time, and aid money for irrigation, roads and equipment, for any of these resettled farms to become self-sustaining. More may have to be done to support farmers once they have land, for example by granting cheap “affirmative action” loans to new black farmers.

The Namibian Agricultural Union (NAU) is not braced for great upheavals. Next year, the government plans to introduce a small tax on under-used farms, to encourage more farmers to sell plots. According to Gert Grobler of the NAU, Mr Nujoma's plan to expropriate farms will probably lead to the forced purchase of only “one or two” unproductive farms now owned by foreign, absentee landlords, and used as hunting grounds. As for Zimbabwean-style land invasions: “Forget it. Anyone who invaded a cattle ranch would soon die of thirst,” he scoffs.

But some individual commercial farmers are more anxious. This week, over 150 of them gathered at a ranch in eastern Namibia for a sundown bull auction and party. Between mouthfuls of cake, they grumbled about official meddling, the failure of farms resettled by poor black workers, and the risks to investment whenever the “old man” shoots his mouth off. A Scottish speaker then explained how to use God's love to fend off land-invaders.

The farmers' greatest worry is that land reform is becoming a political issue. Elections are due in 2004. The popular Mr Nujoma has promised to step down, but could always change his mind. If he does, he will have to convince his party to carry on backing him. Inequitable land distribution could give him an excuse to stay on, to finish the job of liberating Namibians from white domination.

In the meantime, he could do something useful in northern Namibia, the wettest and least sparsely populated part of the country, where demands for land reform are strongest. People there want jobs or, failing that, secure tenure on small plots of arable land near home. The government could provide this by redistributing some 8m hectares of state-owned land.

“Land reform in these communal areas is the key issue for poor farmers,” says Dirk Hansohm, an economist in Windhoek. Donors would happily finance resettlement on such lands. But Mr Nujoma is not particularly interested. Why? Perhaps because none of those arrogant white farmers has a plot in the north.